all that's past is prologue...

I'm not sure I can even call these "pandemic projects" anymore, since it seems to be just life now. Maybe it's a hashtag instead? #pandemicprojects But in any case, I got through a few things that had been long on the list this weekend, and even though they were not big things, it felt good to have them done! I made an ice globe with the kit (and by kit I really mean "box with some balloons and tea lights") that I've had for years: I *finally* replaced the disgusting shiny brass outlets in the bathroom. Before and After (Beatrix was so proud of me for remembering!): The biggest one was hanging photos in the stairs to the 3rd floor. When we redid it (ummm, 17 years ago...), we kind of never finished the stairway, and the walls have remained a distressed plaster, partially because I kind of liked them that way.  But a little sanding and cleaning up made them look like they had patina instead of just being ignored, and I was able to hang some of my photos t...

So, in yet another reminder that time sadly marches on, Beatrix has clearly stated that she is too old for summer camps. However, this is the time of year that they ramp up, and back in the day I was kind of a camp ninja, so I'm sharing my thoughts here on some good ones. Obviously, things have changed a lot during covid (she didn't do any camps last year and only virtual ones the year before), so all of my knowledge is getting a little long on the tooth. DayCroix: This is a great basic camp. In Hudson, but they bus. All you know and love about day camps — counselors with funny names, lots of time outside including swimming and gnome homes and animals and gaga ball and some sand area called "wateroo," skits; there's even an overnight for the older kids. You can do one week or many, in a row or spread out over the summer, basic or specialty camps, and the 45-60 minute bus ride each way gives the parent some extra time in the day (and the kids seem to enjoy it too)....

We're hunkered down again. Large events (like the huge dance party we took Beatrix to in a sling when she was only a few weeks old) seem like someone else's life, and as I was musing to my friend Siobhan yesterday (while listening to the Pogues), even our trip to Ireland seemed like a lifetime ago. Still, I had been looking forward to one-on-one get togethers with friends, and those are even on hold. So instead, I'm working on making our place more cozy, without spending any money (free boards are my favorite vice). Adding things to our living room — new candles in beautiful little tins, a pillow on the chair, poinsettias by the fireplace. Brutus approves. New drapes in the front windows that have been sitting in a box for years when I got them from my friend Chuck. Cleaning up the plants. I'm still looking for the glass bottles I used to display in the transom window, and I want to find a cozy, snuggly blanket for this area. Our fig plant was moved upstairs over the ho...

So here's the deal. Maybe I eat out differently than you do. But when I go out to eat, I generally want to: 1) Check out the hot new place (I can't help it, I started my career selling program ads and I had to research), or 2) Go to the restaurant or bar where I have developed a relationship. In some places (I'm looking at you, several taprooms), I have developed a relationship with the people there and I'm excited to see them and see how they are doing and bring Brutus. I used to go to Fabulous Fern's (RIP) once a week, and Lisa was alway our waiter. In other places we frequent, I don't know the people, but I know and love their food — the whole range of it, or there's one menu item I just adore (hellllooooo, veggie samosas at Afro Deli!) Sometimes, I just like the feel of the place, and when I know we're going to dinner there, I get excited for it all day. These are places to get excited about — you've seen my cocktail photos. So first of all, I ha...

It's not quite like March, 2020, but it's not unlike it, either. Due to my clientele, I've spent a lot of time listening to MDH briefings this week, and that information has made me dial back activities a little more each day. It's been really hard to tell friends who I promised I would get together with after the holidays that I'm just not going out right now, to watch theaters cancel shows *again,* and to try to make all kinds of changes on the fly. (As I was typing this, people we really want to see, who are basically in our pod, just texted to see if we wanted to meet up, and it was yet another "no" from me.) But, as Patrick and I describe it, I feel like I'm in a game of "Covid Battleship" and there are already 3 pegs on my aircraft carrier... It may or may not be possible to avoid covid entirely at this point, and the fact that our family has not gotten sick yet has been more luck than anything else. But, given that current CDC guidance...

So, based on things we've heard in various meetings lately, Omicron brings a whole new show to town. Today in a meeting an MDH person referred to it as a "vaccine escape" variant. It basically feel like we are playing a game of "Covid Battleship" and I have 3 pegs already on my aircraft carrier. And it's equally clear that our leaders don't seem to be choosing to do a lot about it either (another post on that later). So we're choosing to dial back our exposure as much as possible to the crucial things such as school, circus class, and work. If you're a friend I've been meaning to get together with — let's put that off a few weeks, ok? Which is to say that Patrick's and my date night tonight was at home. We ate a delicious takeout dinner of a green eggplant curry from Cheung Heng , which we have recently discovered. We also walked up to Golden Fig to buy a bottle of Monday Gin , an NA gin that I have been wanting to try. That part of t...

As we drove into yoga this morning, Patrick and I were discussing New Year's resolutions. I was not feeling terribly inspired. Truth be told, I was somewhat leaning into this: "I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment.” - Joan Didion But we were also talking about things like making a more comfortable home, and professional goals, and the like (I'm not making the mistake of "More travel! Friends over every month for dinner!" this year). And then we got to yoga, and because Viv is Viv, she nailed it (and it's not unlike Joan's words): "What if your resolution was not to lose 10 pounds or some bullshit like t...